Apparatus for making seat-bodies for automobiles.



PATENTED FEB. 11, 1908.

7 M. H. KASHIAN. APPARATUS FOR MAKINGSEAT BODIES FOR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25. 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I jot/aide 2"."

vwbwsjijm iuwq THE uonmsPs'rsRs ca, wAsnnva'AoN, n; c

N0. 8'78,6'36. PATENTED FEB-11, 1908. V M. H. KASHIAN.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING SEAT BODIES FOR AUTOMOBILES. APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, 1907.

z SHEETS-SHEET 2.

2% x a .A

iaweifiar:

THEN"!!! PETERS co mus-row. 1:.c.

MINAS H. KASHIAN, OF AMESBURY, MASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING SEAT-BODIES FOR AUTOMOBILES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1 1, 1908.

Application filed July 25. 1967. Serial No. 385.436.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MINAs I-I. KASHIAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Am'esbury, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Apparatus for I Bodies for Automobiles, of which the followmg description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like'letters on the drawings representing like parts.

In the manufacture of automobiles considerable difliculty and expense are met with in making the metal back for the seat. Said backs must be strong and yet light, and accordingly it is custoinary, in shaping them, to provide strengthening ribs, and on account of the latter it has been considered necessary to pound and shape the backs by hand. Accordingly my. invention aims to provide mechanism for making these backs by a machine.

My invention will appear more fully in the course of the following description taken with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown a preferred embodiment of the machine in its simplest form.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents the machine in side elevation; Fig. 2 is a top plan viewthereof; Fig. 3 represents diagrammatically certain features to be referred to; Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing details of the body-form and adjacent parts; Fig. 5 is is an end view of the body-form and operating parts; and Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus, parts being broken away for clearness of illustration.

The shape of the finished seat-body will be understood from the outline of the bodyform 1, shown best in Figs. 2 and 6, and in order to bring the metal from its plane sheet condition to this shape I provide a .metal drawing port-ion consisting of upper rolls 2 8 and under rolls 915 arranged in vertical pairs successively to operate on the sheet, one or both of said rolls being positively driven by any suitable mechanism which will enable the successive rolls to produce the proper drawing and molding -effect on the metal, a train of similar gears 16, 17, 18, 19, etc., being herein shown for positively driving the under rolls forward in the same direction. These forming rolls are suitably journaled in a heavy frame 20 and are made relatively adjustable, the upper rolls being Making Seatpreferably the ones which are adjusted, having their journals 21 mounted in vertical guldeways 22 and. adjustable by any suitable means as by set bolts 23, whereby they are caused to pinch against the under rolls with such pressure as is required for the given thickness and. quality or kindof metal being shaped.

The rolls have successively an external contour verging by degrees from an approximately' cylindrical shape at the entering end of the machine to the desired ultimate configuration to which the metal is to be shaped at the outgoing end of the series of shaping rolls, the opposite rolls of each pair having complemental configuration, the under rolls being herein shown as having the female shape and the top rolls the male configuration. y

In practice the machine is quite long and has a large number of rolls, although the number of rolls and length of the machine depends to some extent upon the ductility or workable character of the sheet metal being shaped, and the frame and rolls are arranged on a slight curvature as indicated in exaggerated'form in Fig. 3, the result being that the side having the longer curve or are will produce the most flaring edge or side of the seat-body, i. a, the top of the seat or seat-back. At the outgoing end of the forming roll I provide a directing bed 24 having the exact transverse contour of the plate as thus formed by said rolls. This bed directs the plate to the under side of the bodv-form 1, which is adjusted close to" the bed 24 and is externally shaped as the exact counterpart of the configuration of the bed. As the front edge of the sheet metal reaches operative position approximately coincident with the front edge of the body-form or shaper 1 said edge is clamped by any suitable means to the latter, this step in the operation being preferably performed automatically. In the drawings I have shown a tripping dog 25 pivoted at 26 to the body-form 1 having a hooked end 27 for engaging alug 28 projecting from the rear side of a clamping device having a clamping jaw 29 in position to engage.

the extreme front end of the metal sheet when said clamping device is released by the engagement of the metal sheet with the trip ping dog 25. The clamping device has a long tail piece 30 normally holding a heavy spring 31 under compression so that the moment the forward travel of the partially shaped sheet causes the latter to trip and release the clamping device the latter is instantly and forcibly moved into clamping position by said spring 31.

Simultaneously with the latter operation the front end of the partially shaped sheet engages and operates the tripping arm 32 of a dog 33 normally held in locking engagement by spring 34 which set in motion mechanism for giving the required movement to the body-form. Any suitable kind of clutching or starting mechanism may be employed for this purpose, the kind herein shown being preferred for its simplicity and as it enables the operator also to start the body-form by a hand movement at any time. On a rod 35, preferably having an external handle 36 is a stop or lug 37 normally held in the posi tion shown in Fig. 1 by the dog Upon the automatic release of the dog 33 a spring 38 on the rod 35, bearing against a fixed lug 39 at one end and a nut 40 on said rod at its other end, shifts the rod instantly to the left Fig. 1, thereby raising the belt tightener 41. against a driving belt 42 driven by a pulley 43 in connection with the main train of driving gears already mentioned. The belt 42- passes over a pulley 44 on a shaft 45 which extends across and through the bed of the machine and is provided on opposite sides of the latter with gears 46 meshing with gears 47 above the same for turning short shafts- 48 and pinions 49 which engage grooved racks 50 secured to the opposite ends of the body-form 1. The shafts 48 occupy openings 51 in the frame and are removably secured by any suitable means as by a looking bar 52 pivoted at 53 and removably held by a pin 54. The racks 50 are supported on arms 55 extending from a fiat base 56 provided with apertures through which extend lugs 57 for receiving locking pins 58 as shown clearly in Fig. 6. The bottom end of the body-form, i. e., the right-hand side thereof, which is shown in Fig. 6 as broken away, has two projecting bosses 59, 60, shaped to fit into the usual openings in what is called the seat frame of a vehicle seat. The seat frame is the skeleton bottom or frame for the bottom of the seat, to which the back and the rest of the seat are attached. The bosses 59 therefore fit up into the open ings in the seat frame and permit the seat frame to be placed removable against the body-form 1 as indicated at 61 in Figs. 5 and 6.

In the course of the previous description I have already set forth to considerable extent my method in connection with the description of the mechanism. The metal sheet is fed into the machine at the left hand end, Figs. 1 and 2, to the continuously driven forming rolls which successively work the metal more and more nearly to the desired transverse shape, and as the metal passes from the last pair of rolls 8, 15 to the bed 24 and is delivered by the latter beneath the body-form 1, its forward edge simultaneously causes the trips 25 and 32 to release their respective mechanisms, the former automatically releasing the clamping mechanism 29, which clamps the forward edge of the formed sheet immovably against the front bottom edge of the body-form 1, and the latter. automatically releasing the belt tightening or starting mechanism 41, which immediately sets the gears 46, 47 into operation. This causes the body-form to move forward, through the engagement of the pinions 49 with the racks 50, until the body form has traveled the entire distance permitted by the length of its racks, so that the rear end of the shaped metal sheet coincides approximately with the rear end of the body-form surface and the body-form is exactly reversed from the position shown in the drawings. Thereupon the operator pulls the handle 36, which stops the further movement of the body form. Upon the first movement of thebodyform, said movement carrying the formed sheet with the body-form tightly against the surface of the latter, the operator drives tacks or nails through the edge of the sheet into the seat frame 61 as indicated at 62, and continues to tack the formed sheetto said seat frame as the body form 1 and seat frame 61 turn forward and upward at the outgoing end of the machine, the result being that when the body-form has completed its travel, having then wou'nd upon itself the entire sheet of metal, the latter has not only been bent to the entire shape desired to form the back of a seat, but it has been secured at its shorter or bottom edge to the seat frame itself, whereby it is permanently retained in said shape. Thereupon the body-form and the mechanism carried thereby are lifted from the frame of the machine and another body-form and connected mechanism are put in place in readiness to receive the next sheet as it reaches the outgoing end of the machine. Meanwhile the pins58 at the right hand end or bottom of the body-form, are driven out, thereby permitting the removal of the rack bar and its support from the bosses 59, which releases the seat frame and permits the seat frame with its entirely shaped and properly formed metal back attached thereto to be removed from the body-form, leaving the latter ready for use again in the machine.

It will be understood that I have herein shown my invention in its simplest form and that, as already intimated, many variations in form, arrangement, and combination of parts, may be resorted to within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The herein described apparatus for making metal seat bodies, consisting of a frame having at one end a series of drawing rolls arranged to receive a fiat sheet and gradually shape it longitudinally, and at its other ing metal seat bodies, consisting of a frame provided with a series of upper and lower complemental shaping rolls, connectedmeans for driving said rolls continuously, means at theoutgoing end of said rolls for receiving a longitudinally shaped sheet, transverse shaping mechanism, and means for starting said transverse shaping mechanism in motion immediately upon the delivery thereto of a longitudinally shaped sheet.

3. The herein described apparatus for making metal seat bodies, consisting of a frame having at one end means for longitudinally shaping'a metal sheet, including means for drawing out one edge of the sheet longer than the other and curving the metal longitudinally between said longer edge and the shorter edge of the sheet, said frame having at its other end a seat body form, mechanism for positively rotating said body form in timed relation to the progress of the sheet through said drawing mechanism, said seat body form having one end peripherally smaller than the other end and an intermediate surface curved to correspond to the longitudinal curves and shaping of the sheet by said drawing mechanism, the above mentioned parts and the frame of the machine being constructed to guide the forward end of the sheet into accurate position on said seat body form, so that the various curves and shapes of the sheet come into accurate position on the corresponding curves and shapes provided therefor on the seat body form, means for clamping the forward end of the sheet in position as it arrives at the proper point with. relation to the seat body form, and means cooperating with said rotating form for providing said longitudinally shaped sheet with transverse bends to correspond with the I shape of said form as the latter rotates.

4. In an apparatus of the kind described, longitudinal shaping mechanism, including carrying means to move a sheet continuously forward, transverse shaping mechanism comrisin a bod form automatic means for clamping the forward end of the sheet to the forward portion of said form, said automatic means being set in operation by the forward travel of the sheet, means for rotating said form, and means cooperating therewith for transversely bending said sheet about said form as the latter rotates.

5. In an apparatus of the kind described,

form in bending the sheet about said form, and operating means including an automatic trip for setting said apparatus in operation in timed relation to the clamping movement of the automatic clamping means.

6. In an apparatus of'the kind described, a body-form, having provision for removably receiving and retaining a seat frame at one end thereof to move therewith, means cooperating with said body-form for bending a metal sheet about said form, operating means therefor, and means enabling the operator to secure to the flat underside of said frame said sheet as it is being bent about the form.

7. In an apparatus for making metal seat bodies, transverse shapingmechanism, comprising a body form having the approximately rectangular shape of a seat body when viewing the same endwise, and the approximate curvature of the sides of the seat ody when viewed sidewise, means for immovably looking a seat frame on one end of said form to move therewith, and driving mechanism for providing said form with a combined forward traveling and rotating movement for maintaining some one portion thereof always close to and in' bending relation with the bed of the machine.

8. 'In an apparatus for making metal seat bodies, transverse shaping mechanism, comprising a body form having the approximately rectangular shape of a seat body when viewing the same endwise, and the approximate curvatures of the sides of the seat body when viewed sidewise, means for immovably looking a seat frame on one end of said form to move therewith, driving mechanism providing said form with a combined forward traveling and rotating movement for maintaining some one portion thereof always close to and in bending relation with the bed of the machine, the driven portion of said driving mechanism being carried by said form, and said form and driven portion being bodily removable from the machine with the seat body thereon when fully shaped.

9. In an apparatus for making metal seat bodies, transverse shaping mechanism, comprising a seat .body form, automatic means, operated by the engagement therewith of the forward end of the metal sheet, to clamp automatically the forward end of the sheet to the forward portion of the form, one end of said body form being rectangularly cut away to correspond to the shape of a seat frame, means cooperating therewith for receiving and looking a seat frame in place, and mech amsm', includlng operating means, for bending the metal sheet transversely about said form.

v 10. In an apparatus for making metal seat bodies, transverse shaping mechanism, comprising a body form, an end rack arranged parallel to the'shaping edge of the adjacent end of the form, a pinion meshing with said rack, and means for driving said pinion to ing said pinions, said pinions, racks and form provide the form with a uniform forward being all bodily removable from the machine surface-speed for transversely shaping the without interfering with said driving means. metal sheet. In testimony whereof, I have signed my 5 11. In an apparatus for making metal seat name to this specification, in the presence of bodies, transverse shaping mechanism, comtwo subscribing witnesses. prising a body form, opposite end racks ar- MINAS H. KASHIAN.

ranged parallel to the shaping edge of the adjacent ends respectively of the form, a pinion 10 meshing with each rack, and means for driv- Witnesses:

GEORGE L. BRIGGS, M. PERRY SARGENT. 

